AVRDUDE: erasing does not work

Using Arduino Avrdude, stk500, Bootloader issues
1

Hi,
I successfully read the original firmware from my 3d printer using:

avrdude -p atmega2560 -b115200 -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -c stk500v2 -Uflash:r:originalfirmware.hex:i

Now I try to write the new firmware which was built by platform io, but it fails.
Any idea, why?

avrdude -p atmega2560 -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200 -c stk500v2 -U flash:w:.pioenvs/megaatmega2560/firmware.hex:i

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
avrdude: device signature = 0x1e9801 (probably m2560)
avrdude: Note: flash memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed.
         To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude error: command failed

avrdude done.  Thank you.

thank you very much.

ps. I used platformio because Arduino IDE V2 crashed with out of memory when opening Marlin sources.

2

Hi @jpt78. Please run the write command again, but this time add the -v flag to the command to enable verbose output and then post the output from the command in a reply here on the forum thread.

Hopefully the verbose output will provide some useful information about why the command failed.

3

Ah, great idea :wink:
Can you read anything from it? I don't see anything suspicious.

avrdude: Version 7.1
         Copyright the AVRDUDE authors;
         see https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/blob/main/AUTHORS

         System wide configuration file is /etc/avrdude.conf
         User configuration file is /home/jan/.avrduderc
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/ttyUSB0
         Using Programmer              : stk500v2
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200
         AVR Part                      : ATmega2560
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PA0
         RESET disposition             : possible i/o
         RETRY pulse                   : SCK
         Serial program mode           : yes
         Parallel program mode         : yes
         Timeout                       : 200
         StabDelay                     : 100
         CmdexeDelay                   : 25
         SyncLoops                     : 32
         PollIndex                     : 3
         PollValue                     : 0x53
         Memory Detail                 :

                                           Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Alias    Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- -------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           eeprom                 65    10     8    0 no       4096    8      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           flash                  65    10   256    0 yes    262144  256   1024  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lfuse                   0     0     0    0 no          1    1      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           hfuse                   0     0     0    0 no          1    1      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           efuse                   0     0     0    0 no          1    1      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           lock                    0     0     0    0 no          1    1      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           signature               0     0     0    0 no          3    1      0     0     0 0x00 0x00
           calibration             0     0     0    0 no          1    1      0     0     0 0x00 0x00

         Programmer Type : STK500V2
         Description     : Atmel STK500 version 2.x firmware
         Programmer Model: AVRISP
         Hardware Version: 15
         Firmware Version Controller : 2.10
         Vtarget         : 0.0 V
         SCK period      : 0.1 us

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
avrdude: device signature = 0x1e9801 (probably m2560)
avrdude: Note: flash memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed.
         To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude stk500v2_command() error: command failed

avrdude done.  Thank you.
4

The avrdude command used when uploading sketches via Arduino IDE uses the -D flag (Disable auto erase for flash.):

When I remove that flag, I get the same avrdude stk500v2_command() error: command failed error as you. When I add it back, the command is successful.

From reading this discussion, it seems that the stk500v2 bootloader used by the Arduino Mega and other ATmega2560-based boards simply doesn't have support for the erase operation that is attempted by AVRDUDE when the command does not contain the -D flag:

So, unless you have some reason to believe the erase is required, just add a -D flag to your command and try again.

If for some reason you do need an erase operation then there are a couple of alternative bootloaders available that might provide the missing capability. But millions of people have used the command without -D over the last two decades when uploading to their Arduino boards so I think you should be fine with the stock bootloader.

5

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